Nurturing Resilience through Story, Play and Make Believe

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Tag Archives: Early childhood development

There is a lot of concern in the early childhood community about the decline in play and the diminished focus on social and emotional development in early learning environments. I share this concern. My research on the relationship between social and emotional development in young children and their later physical, cognitive and mental well-being (see here and here, for example)has made me even more passionate about the need to preserve play and relationship-based early education.

So why are teachers, and parents, so focused on just the Literacy and Math and Science standards? I believe it is because they are not aware of 1) the importance of early childhood mental health as a predictor of later academic and life success; and 2) the existence of these “forgotten” standards.

To that end, I am planning a social media campaign on Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter, as well as through this blog, that will highlight the many standards that truly develop those parts of the brain we need to stay emotionally healthy and socially competent throughout our lives. With the 2014 Standards a requirement for all PA STARS childcare/education facilities as of July 1, 2015, the time is now to start playing with them and discovering their hidden treasures!

I am targeting early childhood teachers, administrators, and parents. The number one reason teachers give about why they don’t include more play in their preschool and kindergarten classrooms is: “The parents demand “real” work!”

We know that all families want the best for their children. I think that if parents and educators better understand that those discussions over who is going to be the princess and who is going to be the puppy in the dramatic play area address multiple learning standards AND may serve as protective factors for later substance use, depression, and anxiety disorders, they will be more on board with facilitating the deep learning that comes with play.

Facebook is a great forum because it is so widely used by individuals, schools and community organizations. We “like” and share visual images, and let’s face it: children doing interesting things are right up there with kittens as viral material! It is my hope that if people find the images compelling, they’ll think about the standards and the overarching message: that early childhood mental health is the same as early childhood social and emotional development and…that it’s “standard” in PA.

Pinterest is another social media platform that is well suited for images with text. Many teachers use Pinterest for lesson planning and I’ve discovered that my most frequently re-pinned images are those having to do with mental health.

Finally, there’s Twitter. I must admit: I’m not much of a tweeter. The 140 character limit makes it a challenge for me! But I recognize that many people DO tweet, especially younger people and…policy makers. Ultimately, it’s important that this message gets to them as well. Plus: with these photos, all I have to do is add the hashtag #ECMHisStandardinPA, and the character restriction is a non issue!

Each of these forums has advantages, and disadvantages. Perhaps the biggest disadvantage is that like anything in social media, the images need to be captivating, and current, and frequent, in order to go viral. They should also represent a wide variety of ages and cultural, linguistic and ability backgrounds to be meaningful. I am hoping to recruit others to help me both gather images and pick up the idea and fly with it.

There are the technical issues as well: I’m pretty sure that all pins have to be part of a website (so..this blog), and I’m not sure if photos that are tweeted can be memes (i.e. have text on them), or if photos like that even get “re-tweeted.”

I have decided to add a copyright notice to the bottom of photos, not to protect my own rights to the idea (it’s supposed to go viral, after all!) but to protect the kind parents and children who have given me permission to use their photos in this campaign (yes, written permission has to be obtained for each of these…).

Finally, there’s the bigger issue with using social media: does it trivialize the important issues? Certainly, different groups of people use social media for different purposes, and there are many advocates and activists who use it to effect social change. But there are also those who will like and share because they are entertained, and who may not even pay attention to the standard, or the message of early childhood mental health. Would this be different if I put a website or phone number or email address related to the Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation Project in PA on the memes? I don’t know…

I look forward to your thoughts and…if you have any pictures of children playing that you’d like to share with the world for a worthy cause… 🙂

As I’ve been thinking about writing this (required) post all week, I thought, honestly, of taking the easy way out. I’ve been immersed all semester (and beyond!) in learning about the impact of substance use disorder on families and children. I’ve spent the past two weeks immersed in sharing what I’ve learned in both a formal academic paper, and a multimedia presentation. Why not just post the presentation on this blog, and call it a day?

And then…TODAY, I attended the PAEYC (Pittsburgh Association for the Education of Young Children) conference, where I was presenting on pretend play and executive function (see here and here for earlier posts on this).

AND…when I looked at the conference offerings last night, I discovered that, for the FIRST TIME, at least in the few years I’ve been paying close attention, there was actually a workshop on working with families in recovery from substance use disorder! I was excited! And of course, I attended.

This (all too short) one hour workshop, “Recovering Families: How Addiction and Recovery Impact Children” was presented by Beth Bitler, Program Director of the PA Family Support Alliance, and Bob Brinker, Parent and Community Educator for Family Services of Western PA, Parent WISE Program. It highlighted for me a number of things that I had learned this semester about my challenge that I had forgotten to include in my presentation and paper! And more importantly, it affirmed something for me: there is interest and a desire to learn about SUD in the early childhood community!

Here is a list of some of the things this workshop reminded me of:

1)The organizations involved were working with substance use disorder because their primary focus was child abuse: Between 80 and 85% of families involved with child protective agencies are impacted by SUD.The research on trauma pertains to these children and families. Further, a significant majority of adults suffering from SUD report having been physically or sexually abused as children. One government report cited astounding numbers: according to many studies, between 55% and 99% of female drug users in treatment reported having been sexually and/or physically abused before the age of 18! And this was in 1998…This cycle has been found to be based in part on the changes in brain architecture that occurs with trauma.All the research I read mentioned this. When I mentioned empathy and compassion in my presentation: this is one reason why.

2)While there are certain characteristics that in general may be found in the parenting styles of families affected by SUD, each substance (e.g. alcohol, cocaine, opioids)has specific behavioral effects, and so have specific impacts on parenting behaviors and family dynamics. As with so many other topics we’ve discussed this semester, this one reminds us of the importance of not painting with that broad brush stroke…

3) While recovery is obviously the goal for ALL families, research shows that many parents leave treatment and are committed to their own recovery, partly in order to regain custody of their children. However, when their children are reunited, many parents then relapse; the stressors of working on both their own continual recovery AND the typical challenges of parenting are often too much for the fragile early stages of recovery. The presenters’ programs were focused on offering continued support for recovery WHILE offering parenting support and skill-training. This seems so important for those us in the field to know and remember: many parents who go to treatment are parenting sober for the first time when they come out. How can WE support them, and their children?

4) As I’ve mentioned, the early childhood community doesn’t seem to be talking about SUD. Imagine my surprise when this workshop had over 50 attendees!!! (My workshop reeled in a big eight!). The numbers verified the interest and the many questions that were asked represented a thirst for information about this disease and how it impacts children and families.

One of the things that has resonated with me throughout my most recent Walden course readings is that, as a profession: we want to get it right. We want to ask the tough questions and delve into the hard issues of bias, and stigma, and the challenges that face so many of the children and families we work with. We all want to do the next right thing, even if it is uncomfortable, because we are committed to making the world a better place, one child and one family at a time.

As I was talking with one of the workshop attendees, we shared how important we thought these topics were for our work. “Why aren’t we talking about addiction all the time?” she mused.”When we know how high the stakes are, what are we waiting for? Do you think it’s because people are ashamed, or scared?”

I don’t know. But I’m glad I’ve had the chance to think about this issue within the context of the family, culture and our society this semester. It has forever changed my thinking about the insidious role of bias and micro aggressions and how they can damage our own best efforts, if we aren’t brave enough to face them head on, and do something about them.

Like this:

When I first saw this clip a few weeks ago, I thought it was a fantastic representation of resilience! But what IS resilience, and how do we promote it in the children we work with?

In their NAEYC article on resilience, Peter Pizzolongo and Amy Hunter share the American Psychological Association’s definition of resilience as “the ability to adapt well to adversity, trauma, tragedy, threats, or even significant sources of stress.” They mention research that identifies factors related to infant temperament, like being easy-going, affectionate, and active, as predictive of a child’s resilience. Factors such as a young child’s willingness to ask for help when needed, and an emerging sense of humor have also been shown to be part of this valuable trait.

1) Attachment/Relationships: which refers to the child’s ability to promote and maintain mutual, positive connections with other children and significant adults.

2) Initiative: the child’s ability to use independent thought and action to meet his or her needs.

3) Self-Regulation: the child’s ability to to express emotions and manage behaviors in healthy ways.

Devereux has a great poster that highlights specific behaviors in children that demonstrate these factors..check it out here!

I consider myself a pretty resilient woman. Although I’ve been blessed with much, I’ve also had my share of trauma over the last few decades and have been able to keep riding those waves of change. What was it about MY early childhood years that allows me to keep bouncing back? Here’s a quick pictorial tour of the protective factors my family offered me that I am SURE helped to promote my resilience!

Protective factor #1: Attachment and Relationships

I was born with the kind of temperament that made it easier to form a relationship with me (although I doubt that my sweet Mother would call her plunge into motherhood with me easy!). Temperament is inborn; I got lucky!

I had lots of chances to play with other children: neighbors, children of my parents’ friends, like little Frankie here, and relatives.

Even after my sister was born, I got lots of attention from both my Mother, and my Dad,

and I was the apple of my grandfather’s eye (first grandchild and all that)!

Protective Factor #2: Initiative

My parents were attentive, but gave us lots of freedom to explore and play independently.

They encouraged us to try new things (no, golf did not become my passion…).

They allowed both my sister and I, who are very different, to follow our own interests…

And encouraged us to imagine and pretend and become our dreams.

Protective Factor #3: Emotional Regulation

My parents both acknowledged our feelings, and helped us to work through them, even as young children. In this photo, my dad is helping me to do what the nice man with the camera is asking me to do, which I obviously didn’t want to at age 3! (No, I am not an artist either…)

And the result of this support? TA DA! A beaming little artist on her way to resilience!

I’m sure many of you have read of Albert Bandura’s experiments with Bobo the Clown…you remember: we see a young child pounding on poor Bobo after seeing a grad student model aggression? Well, here’s a great example of emotional regulation when all of the protective factors are in place! A good day for little Stephanie AND her pal Bobo!

What protective factors can you think of that have impacted your own life? And more importantly: What have YOU done with the children in your care to promote resilience? (and no, you do not have to breakdance on a hopscotch game! But if you WANT to…or THEY want to…remember that part about developing a sense of humor! 🙂